Early voting for the Aug. 10 runoff races is next week at the Elections Office at Watson Government Complex.

Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. next Monday, Wednesday and Friday and from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, Supervisor of Elections and Registration Deidre Holden announced at the July 27 Board of Commissioners work session.

Voters in the July 20 party primaries must take the same party’s ballot for the runoff, while registered voters who did not vote in the primary can select either ballot. “People who didn’t vote in the primary are eligible to vote in the runoff,” Holden emphasized.

She said absentee ballots and information about the elections and voter registration are available at the Elections Office.

“We had a good turnout” July 20, she said, with 20.9 percent of Paulding’s registered voters making their preferences known.

“We had a lot of people at the polls on election day — more than we anticipated,” she said. Fewer than expected voted early, and Holden suggested that might have been because many were undecided before election day.

Local Aug. 10 runoff races are for district attorney, commission Posts 2 and 4 and Georgia House District 19.

Dick Donovan led the district attorney’s race with 40.78 percent of the vote to Drew Lane’s 36.10 percent, and the two will face off again Aug. 10.

Incumbent Daniel Stout led the District 19 House race with 38.86 percent, while Paulette Rakestraw Braddock qualified for the runoff with 31.24 percent.

In commission Post 2, Beverly Cochran took the most votes July 20 with 45.15 percent, and Todd Pownall forced a runoff with 43.02 percent.

The Post 4 race pits July 20 leader David Barnett (38.07 percent) against Tony Crowe (33.88 percent), the two survivors from a four-man race.

Statewide GOP runoffs are for governor, in which Karen Handel led the seven-person field in Paulding and statewide (34 percent) and will face a challenge from Nathan Deal (23 percent). Former Cobb County Commission Chairman Sam Olens led the GOP vote for attorney general in Paulding and statewide (40 percent), but not enough to avoid a runoff with Preston Smith (31 percent).

The Republican runoff for insurance commission pits Ralph Hudgens (21 percent) against Maria Sheffield (20 percent), and the GOP runoff for Public Service Commission will have Tim Echols (35 percent) and John Douglas (28 percent).

The sole Democratic runoff statewide will have Gail Buckner and Georganna Sinkfield, who finished with 35 percent and 22 percent, respectively, in the race for secretary of state. Former governor and gubernatorial candidate Roy Barnes avoided a runoff by taking 66 percent of the vote in a seven-man field.

Board of Commissioners Chairman David Austin thanked the public for renewing the special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST), “which allows us to move forward with transportation, public safety” and fiber optic infrastructure, he said.

Austin also noted the passing of former commission Chairman Johnny Helms, who died July 27. Helms served from 1989 to 1992, said Austin, “and he was a great American and a great friend of mine.”

In the only other work session business other than a report on Animal Control and closed session for litigation discussion, the board recognized Linda Fennell of the Information Technology Department as August employee of the month and communications officer Barbara Morris of the 911 Center for successfully talking a caller through CPR measures.